


Scent

by Naughty_Vulcan



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Humans Smell Good to Vulcans Actually, My Vulcans Run Cold, No Dialogue, Not Beta Read, Possessive Behavior, Sarek POV, Scent Kink, Third Person POV, Vignette, Vulcan Xenophobia, Vulcans Being Territorial, vulcan headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naughty_Vulcan/pseuds/Naughty_Vulcan
Summary: There is a reason Vulcans protest so much about the way humans smell. But its not what humans think.
Relationships: Amanda Grayson/Sarek
Comments: 11
Kudos: 170





	Scent

It was often said on Earth that Vulcans found the smell of humans repugnant. That humans smelled to them something akin to the way sulfur or rotten eggs smelled to humans. But like many things the Vulcans allowed humans to believe, that was a lie.

It was easy to deduce how such a falsehood had begun, in Sarek’s opinion. It was a well-documented fact that several of the Vulcans in the first contact party had wrinkled their noses in front of the humans. And the humans present had assumed a powerful, visceral disgust had prompted the action—an incorrect assumption. However, Sarek felt obligated to render the human race credit for their deduction, even though it was false. It was a _logical_ conclusion to make. Vulcans were usually quite adept at controlling their physiological reactions to external stimuli. Therefore, to garner any visible reaction from a Vulcan, the stimuli would need to be particularly potent.

And it _was_ potent. Simply not in the way that humans assumed.

The smell of humans did not disgust Vulcans. No. If Sarek were to be perfectly candid, the reason that Vulcans wrinkled their noses in the presence of humans was not because they _disliked_ the smell. But because they liked it _too much._

Humans, in Sarek’s experience, had very strong, musky scents, like animals constantly in heat. The slightly salty aroma that clung to human skin after exertion reminded every Vulcan who’d passed through the area, of the fertile sands near the Voroth sea—a popular retreat for young Vulcan lovers. And the heat that radiated so plentifully from their skin at all times was reminiscent of the high temperatures achieved in the peak of the blood fever.

To summarize, from a Vulcan perspective, humans smelled like pure sex.

Sarek knew all too well that to those unaccustomed to it, the scent could be _overpowering_. It had taken him several decades on Earth to no longer be affected by the veritable bombardment he faced in human public spaces. And he had seen what happened when several unprepared Vulcans at the consulate had inhaled the aroma too deeply.

The scent was strong enough that it drove them to madness. Under its tantalizing influence, even the most meticulously crafted emotional control just… suddenly crumbled away. Every Vulcan who was foolish enough to fall prey to it, began to leer at human passersby. And they all had to be forcibly escorted away by others before they could do something lecherous that might set back human-Vulcan relations for decades. 

So no, the reason most Vulcans wrinkled their noses in front of humans was not instinctive, but _deliberate._ A precaution against temptation.

But to admit that such a thing was even necessary would devastate a Vulcan’s pride. So, on the whole, they had silently, unanimously agreed to let the human theory of disgust remain unchallenged. After all, what was the _logic_ in correcting an assumption that absolved them from admitting a humiliating truth?

Sarek could see none. And apparently neither could any other Vulcan. So the true effects of human scents on Vulcan olfactory senses remained one of Vulcan’s best kept secrets.

Even Amanda was oblivious to the truth. She believed the distance, the wrinkled noses, the sneers, the comments hushed under breath she received from the Vulcans around her, were because they hated her. Because they thought she wasn’t a fitting wife for a Vulcan.

And though Sarek knew that assumption wounded her greatly, he would never contradict it.

Because in part, it _was_ true. Many Vulcans still clung to old prejudices and believed themselves to be superior to humans, and therefore looked upon his relationship with one unfavorably. But more importantly, Sarek concealed the truth, because he suspected it would horrify her.

How would his wife sleep soundly at night in their home on Vulcan, knowing that her husband’s choice of mate was reviled, not simply because it was unorthodox or deemed inferior, but because those who reviled it secretly wished they had her for themselves? How would she be able to go about her daily life, interacting pleasantly with the people around her, knowing that she was every Vulcan male’s—and quite possibly several Vulcan females’—wet dream made flesh? How could she relax even for a moment, understanding that most of the other Vulcans she interacted with were _jealous_ of Sarek? Knowing that if Sarek ever appeared weak in their eyes, that instinct might drive them to try and claim her for themselves?

Sarek would never subject his wife to that horror.

But he did not ignore it himself.

Sarek was all too aware of the allure his wife held for other Vulcans. And that was why he trained so hard in _Suus Manha._ And why he frequently sparred with others, as publicly as possible—and sometimes even with a _lirpa._

The ritual weapon conjured up images of the _kal’if’fee_ in most Vulcans’ minds. And the pointed stares Sarek sent in the direction of several of his coworkers, after forcing his opponents to submit, were not subtle in the slightest. The message behind those stares, and the image of him pressing a wedge-shaped blade against an opponent’s throat, was loud and clear to any Vulcan.

 _I will not hesitate to decapitate anyone who lays a single unwanted finger on my wife._

If the reasoning behind such posturing was understood, it might have seemed extreme to a human. But Sarek could not argue with the results. The Vulcans Sarek worked with regularly knew better than to test him. Having witnessed firsthand how quickly Sarek could kill them if they dared challenge his claim, they all kept a respectful distance from Amanda. And did not dare inhale her scent as long as he was watching.

But there were others… mostly young, unbonded Vulcan men, who had yet to endure the flames of _pon farr,_ and who either did not fully understand how _territorial_ Vulcans could be about their mates, or who were too hormone-addled to care, who would wander too close sometimes. Whose nostrils might even flare open slightly when Amanda walked by. And whom Sarek would be forced to discreetly growl at, at a pitch below the range of human hearing, to fend them off.

With a wife that smelled as enticing as Amanda did, the struggle to keep her safe and _his_ was constant. But Sarek did not regret it for a moment.

Perhaps if he had only been enamored with Amanda’s scent, he would have given up by now. But Sarek hadn’t fallen in love with Amanda because of the way she smelled. He’d fallen in love with her as a person. With her passion. Her fortitude. Her empathy. Her intelligence. Her stubbornness. With whatever possessed her to attempt to grow Terran roses in an inhospitable Vulcan desert—and _succeed._

It was impossible to say Sarek would have loved her equally as a Vulcan because so much of what made Amanda, well, _Amanda_ was her humanity. But Sarek was confident in the knowledge that he had married her for her personality—that her scent was simply an added bonus.

Of course, that did not mean he could not enjoy it. In the privacy of their own home, when they were alone together, Sarek did not deny himself the indulgence of inhaling it as deeply as he could.

Sometimes he wondered what Amanda made of it. If she ever wondered why he seemed to treasure the way she smelled, and all other Vulcans appeared to find it so powerfully distasteful. Did she suppose he was forcing himself to inhale for her sake? Or did she think he had a fetish?

Sarek was curious to the point of irritation. But as a Vulcan, he would never admit to such emotionalism. Nor would he ever broach the subject, because that would inevitably lead to admitting the truth.

Instead, he tried subtly increasing the number of times he smelled his wife, to see if she would comment. But to Sarek’s private consternation, if Amanda thought it was strange that her husband sniffed her neck and her wrists so much—especially when they had intercourse—she did not say anything.

Perhaps she _did_ know the truth, Sarek considered one night after a particularly passionate round of lovemaking. Perhaps his wife was simply learning to employ a particularly Vulcan tactic—lying by omission. 

That was a sobering thought.

But it was much more likely, Sarek concluded after some additional consideration, that his wife was simply unable to find the words to address the topic without inadvertently accusing him of acting emotionally. And she did not find his behavior to be a matter of enough concern to attempt such a conversation. Or to risk dissuading him from smelling her in the future.

While Amanda slumbered naked at his side in the dark, Sarek allowed the barest ghost of a smile to trace across his lips. Whatever his wife was thinking, as far as he was concerned, she was perfect. And it made him incredibly pleased to know that the glorious smell wafting from her skin was all his.


End file.
